DASH Receives Garfield Weston Grant Funding

Disability Arts in Shropshire (DASH) is pleased to announce that it has received £30,000 Grant funding from Garfield Weston ensuring the continued work supporting Disabled visual artists, nationwide.

The pandemic is having disproportionate health and economic impacts on most Disabled people, but is even more damaging to the majority of Disabled artists because of the unpredictability of their income, and hence the limitations on available support, along with the obstacles to accessing systems which have been hurriedly developed. A recent national survey demonstrates that artists are seeing stark impacts on their lives, with around 60% of those surveyed anticipating a reduction in income of over 50% this year.

During Covid-19 DASH have been working remotely supporting Disabled visual artists nationally through mentoring and funding advice, helping to shape their work and their applications for funding.

Here is what some DASH artists had to say:

“DASH’s approach to personalised mentoring has created a tailormade service allowing me to express myself creatively and professionally”

“Having a clear path has made my design and creating process easier. For the first time in ages, I am not second guessing myself, I am just creating."

“I have found DASH to be so valuable for me. The barriers I face as a dyslexic artist are bridged with the support of my mentor. He is able to detect and ask what my specific needs are. I am given motivation and bite size tasks to work on.”

DASH wishes to express thanks to Garfield Weston for their support. With funding of £30,000 to deliver its core work, Garfield Weston will help make a difference to the lives and livelihoods of 150+ disabled artists over the next two years. It will enable DASH to focus its staff resource on securing project funding for new programmes of work and developing our income streams further in response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In turn, with Garfield Weston’s support, our community of Disabled people will feel valued and included; making a difference to their wellbeing.